Brawl on the court: Three players ejected in the Sun vs. Sky match
An altercation on the court resulted in the ejection of three players during Wednesday night’s game, where the Connecticut Sun defeated the Chicago Sky with a score of 71-62 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville. The incident occurred at 6:35 of the second quarter. Bria Hartley of the Sun and Rebecca Allen of the Sky were vying for a rebound. Allen appeared to grab Hartley’s right arm, who responded by pushing Allen to the ground. Allen, in turn, grabbed Hartley’s jersey. While the referees intervened to separate the players, Ariel Atkins, guard for the Sky, got involved in the fight, pushing Hartley and making contact with a referee. Following a review that delayed the game by about 10 minutes, Hartley and Allen were ejected for fighting, while Atkins was ejected “for escalating the situation,” according to head referee Angelica Suffren.Sky coach Tyler Marsh commented that the game had already become physical between Hartley and Allen before the altercation. Marsh pointed out that the referees “overlooked” a previous incident between the two, where a foul was not called after Hartley elbowed Allen in the face. Chicago only had eight players available in the second half, as Angel Reese (back) did not play her sixth consecutive game.I think these types of things tend to happen when there is no control over the game beforehand. Usually, there’s an incident that’s overlooked that leads to something like this. Allen was clearly hit in the face with the elbow right in front of the referee and wasn’t sanctioned. Then other things happened. It’s unfortunate for us. Two players who play high-quality, high-value minutes for us.
Tyler Marsh, Sky coach
